She'd seen Ruairi's eyes before...and weirder in various species of demon, and she wasn't even considering Granddad, she was far too accustomed to the change that the bloodlust brought for it to even occur to her that his look was weird. But in Tadhg's eyes...something about those expansive, dark depths got under her skin.
His warm welcome diverted her thoughts, making her smile as he admitted to forgetting the kettle.
Before she could answer, though, he'd reached for her hand and started speaking a spell in...Fazran? No, that was a demon tongue...Fey. Had to be. And she knew one word in Fey: 'help.' And she wasn't even sure she heard it in his soft incantation.
Following his silent urging, she stepped over the threshold and smiled as he politely took her arm. His hand was warm on her elbow...strong, sure, an artist's hand for certain.
"Aye aye, Senor Sculpts-a-Lot." she quipped with a grin as she followed along at his side. "I'll even help...and if you try to shoo me or treat me like a guest, I get to bop you. Or...y'know...tell your daddy on you or something. Or tell my granddad. He'll nag you into submission. He can do it, too...he had years of practice with me."
He smiled and shook his head. "It's just a matter of turning on the stove. Everything else is already on the table." As was revealed when said table became visible: mugs, spoons, cream, sugar and cookies all laid out.
Tadhg felt Diúc's nose poke his side at the same time he heard Millie skitter up. They both wanted to meet this new friend. "But you can always grab a couple of dog treats-- they're in that canister there --and introduce yourself." He dropped his hand fondly on the wolfhound's massive head. "This is Diúc, and the little fluffball by his feet is Millie." Both dogs gave Rian happy canine smiles, tails lashing with excitement.
Glancing over as the table became visible, Rian grinned and pretended to bow to him. "Praise be, Domestic God." she teased just before the animals ran up.
Squealing in delight, Rian handed Tadhg the bag and knelt down to pet the dogs gleefully. "Oh just look at you guys! Hey, Di...hey, Millie Billie!" she cooed, scratching Millie under her chin and Diuc behind his ear. "You guys is so pretty, oh yesh you is!!"
Leaning in to kiss the massive wolfhound's snout, she bent to pick up Millie once the dog seemed to allow it, cuddling her close and growling playfully. At the same time, she tried to see if she could talk to the dog...so far, Shadow had been the only animal she could communicate with on any kind of routine level, but she'd had a little luck with a stray dog a couple of weeks before.
She didn't get a response to her attempts, but she did catch a brief, but quiet snatch of something that came after Diuc let out a short snuffle.
Cookies? He said yes...
Giggling, Rian nodded as she rose, still holding Millie in one arm while she stroked Diuc's head again. "He sure did, bucko...c'mon, treats for the sweet, my sweets."
Walking over to the canister Tadhg had indicated, Rian fished out a couple of biscuits and handed one down to Diuc, then fed one to Millie in her arms. "So this is the menagerie? Lookit these puppy pretties!! They're adorable!"
Tadhg's cordial smile turned into a warm, delighted grin at Rian's enthusiasm for the dogs, enthusiasm which he noted was very much reciprocated. His head tilted slightly at her answer ... yes, it definitely was an answer ... to Diúc's request. As she made sure the two were properly biscuited, he got fresh water in the kettle and put it on to boil.
"They're part of it," he chuckled in response to her question. "I'm sure you'll meet a fair amount of the rest eventually. Two cats, three guinea pigs, three ferrets, a ball python, a tortoise and a Moluccan cockatoo, currently."
Wonder of wonders, he actually managed to locate two tea balls to hold the loose leaves while they steeped. Returning to the table, he placed one by each mug and turned to give his guest an engaging smile. "Have a seat, Rian, and we'll get this party started."
Rian looked up from feeding Millie her treat, grinning. "No way...you have all these fuzzy wuzzies, and a python on top of it? Brave man, you." she quipped, trailing off with a giggle as Millie licked her neck ticklishly, then squealed as Diuc bumped her with his nose, a move that, given his massive size, made her sway back against the counter.
As Tadhg moved over to the table, Rian made sure the dogs had finished their treats, then kissed Millie noisily before setting her down, bending to give Diuc the same affectionate treatment before she moved to join him at the table.
"Far be it from me to hold up a party...starting them is sort of my thing." she teased, grinning as she joined him. "Mmmmmm...this spread looks totally yummy. Tea, treats, pretty puca, cute puppies and impending tattoos...yep. Very good day so far."
"Do help yourself." Pretty, am I? Tadhg's eyebrows elevated slightly as he took his own chair. His smile widened just as slightly. He tugged the notebook (the same one he'd doodled in during their phone conversation) to his left hand and picked up the pencil.
"As I'm sure you've already gathered, Rian, creating and placing this kind of tattoo takes a very different process than most." He nodded at the binder lying between them. "I do have a portfolio of some of my past designs you can look at, to show you what I have done. But because your particular ink must be attuned to your particular energies, I can't guarantee the finished product will look like anything in that book."
His dark eyes turned grave, though he still smiled. "I should tell you at the outset that the assessing and attuning do require me to make direct contact with your own energy channels, though of course I'll try to keep that contact as minimal and noninvasive as possible." Unable to quite still, his pencil traced an idle spiral or two. "But it does take a certain amount of vulnerability on your part, and therefore a certain amount of trust. If at any point you find yourself becoming uncomfortable with the situation, you need to tell me."
Ah, almost forgot. "And if you want a look at one of my designs in person so that you can get a feel for the results, I can show you a few of mine." He gives her a smile, gentle and guileless. "Any questions? I'm sure you must have a few."
Taking her seat, Rian reached for one of the cookies laid out on the table and nibbled as her gaze moved between his face and his hands, moving with the idle, restless gestures of a creative mind...she knew them well, and was guilty of them more often than not herself.
Fortunately, his brief synopsis of what was going to be involved with the artwork she'd come for was more than enough to assuage her concerns...magic was something she was used to, something she knew. When he addressed her concerns, she shook her head.
"Trust isn't an issue...your dad told me to talk to you." she replied simply. "I trust him with my life...and pass the trust-issue, explanation-making savings onto you! Good deal, huh? Anyway, I've already been through some of this stuff...my powers have undergone a recent overhaul? So my witchy guru looked me over...she can read auras. It sounds like what you're talking about is more...I don't know, metaphysically tactile? But I'm cool with it."
When he offered to show her some of his own designs...on his person...she couldn't quite stop a blush from rising to her cheeks, or a wicked smirk from touching her lips. Forcing herself not to hope that the designs were below the belt, she nodded and tried to keep her expression mild and pleasant...failing miserably.
"I would, actually like that." she replied slowly. "And not just to satisfy my prurient curiosity about what exactly you might have to show me...gah, show me before I go innuendo-happy, pretty please?"
Tadhg had never been so oblivious that he'd miss the implications of a pretty woman blushing when he effectively offered to remove his shirt ... but alas, this was a professional encounter, so he'd keep things professional. Besides, friend of Da's and all that. So he stifled his own smirk as best he could and circled the table to drop into the chair next to hers. Then he slid off his terra cotta colored tee to reveal his most obvious pieces of body art.
He touched the tat that centered over his diaphragm. The centerpiece, a variation on a triskele centered around oak leaves and acorns, was in turn surrounded by a riot of intertwined plants and animals, all intricately detailed and realistically colored. "This is one of my more recent. And this, of course--" He smiled as he proffered his left bicep, circled by a wide band of colorful knotwork through which a series of horses run, leap and rear. "--has a certain family significance.
"And then there's this." He turned and straddled the chair, presenting the very Celtic version of an ouroboros on his back. Not only was the snake curled in on itself in a spiral, but its body was constructed of and decorated with intricate braids and interlacing. Seven inches in diameter, the serpent's colors seemed to gleam with a subtle iridescence.
OOC note: Of course I am not the artist that Tadhg is, so I've been forced to fall back on existing pictures. They should only be considered an approximation of the actual pictures on his skin.
Okay, so pretty boy taking off shirt, holy crap he was hot. However, while ogling, there was artwork to be seen...and Rian was startled by what she saw. She was too distracted by the beauty of the artwork to even consider that every dirty thought she'd been having had flown completely out of her head.
Without thought or hesitation, her hand moved to follow his brief tour of his body art, hovering just over the ornate piece on his torso before running lightly over the armband, smiling as she traced the shape of a single horse worked into it.
As he shifted to straddle his chair, Rian hesitated for a moment before standing to move behind him and inspect the ouroboros on his back more closely. Laying both hands against his back, she ran her fingers over the design, enchanted by the coloring and detail.
"You're not just gifted...you're a goddamn genius." she breathed in amazement. She could stand there all day and just stare at the delicate patterns within the design, and it was...yeah, those scales were shiny. How did someone even find ink like that?...
Ahh-- The moment Rian's hands contact his back, Tadhg has to stifle a gasp in favor of a quietly drawn breath. Maybe I should have told her these things are sensitive. Not simply to her warmth or caress-- and her fingers are very definitely caressing him --but to the very aliveness of her. Her touch sends a prickle of awareness through him, and he finds himself leaning back just a little bit--
Whoa, lad. Professional, remember? He holds himself still, hands unobtrusively gripping the chair back. When she sits back in her own chair he turns to face her again, trying for an affable and hopefully unaffected smile.
"Ah ... almost forgot. I also have these ..." He holds out his hands palm-up. The skin looks entirely unmarked at first, but after a moment's concentration, colorful lines and curves start to appear as though being drawn by invisible pens. In less than a minute two mirror-imaged knotwork and spiral tattoos are clearly visible.
Tadhg grins at Rian's look of inquiry. "I can pull the same trick with my other ink as well, but of course most of the time there's no need."
There was a brief moment when she felt the shift of muscle under her hands as they rested on his back, and she couldn't help but enjoy even that tiny, teeny reaction...or the simple pleasure of feeling that warm skin under her fingers. It wouldn't take much just to let her hands move a little further up to span those broad shoulders...
Forcing herself to withdraw, Rian returned to her seat with a smile...but it vanished in a look of sheer awe as he showed her the tattoos on his hands, unfurling before her very eyes like some kind of painting being done live on flesh.
Sitting back a little, she covered her mouth briefly, blue eyes shining with joy and amazement before she moved her hand to speak, gesturing as she did to make her point. "Okay, I've...touched magic of this magnitude, and I mean with my pinky finger. My grandmother's no powerhouse, but she's very adept, and I could do that for a while...but this makes even that seem like I was making mystic mudpies. You...do you think you can do something this...enormous for me? I mean...would I be able to handle a piece of art that can...well...like that?"
He ran one thoughtful fingertip over his lower lip as he contemplated Rian's question. "The simple answer to your question, lass, is 'yes'." The same finger tapped both his lips as he continued, "And like most simple answers, it comes with a pile of qualifications attached to it."
He held out his hands to display the palm tats again. "The spell that hides them is worked into the tattoo during the placement, and is actually far more basic than you'd think. The ink gets pulled under the upper layers of skin, and a small glamour keeps people from seeing the faint shading that would normally still be visible. Once the spell is set, it actually requires only a light touch of the wearer's personal energy to hide or call up the marks."
Tadhg turned his left hand over to lightly trace the spiral in his right palm. "So yes, I could set such a spell in your tattoo, and in such a way that it would be easy for you to use. But first we'll have to answer the question of whether or not it will be worth it to you." Reversing hands, he traced the left. "These designs help me focus in reading and connecting with the energies of others, the same kind of connection I'll be making with you later. They're extremely sensitive. I keep them hidden when I'm not using them, not to conceal the ink, but to dampen their reception. Otherwise they'd interfere with my normal sense of touch."
He once more turned both palms up, spreading his hands in a we'll see gesture. "So concealment is valuable to me. In order to determine if it will be so for you, we'll need to take a good hard look at exactly what you're wanting to get out of this tattoo, and exactly how much we can put into it in the way of casting time, personal energy and other forms of magical essence."
Tadhg's sudden grin had more than a little of his father in it. "Y'know, I think people would find magic to be far less enticing a concept if they knew how much of it is a cost/benefit analysis."
Even though her mouth still twisted into the excited smile of a happy little girl and her hands still moved restlessly...tapping together, twisting in her lap, running over her hair, her gaze was absolutely focused. Her demeanor was calm and open...practicality through the constant fervor of energy. There was no doubt that every word he spoke, she was taking in with an absolute and honest desire to take something away from it...to learn.
His observation made her smile grow as she nodded. "Believe me, I'm well aware of the pros and cons of the serious mojo." she assured him. "I grew up around magic...I mean, I know your family's very private about what you are, but in LA it's all very open these days. And anyway, I was raised around magic...metaphysically and biologically. My best friend's from a medical family, and you've probably heard the whole spiel on my grandmother and her power."
She paused, her bright smile fading as her expression grew thoughtful. Absently toying with her fingers, she took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts. "Before this whole mess? I was out to get something done that would simply let me work my thing if I was tool-less...skyclad, or just out and in a bad sitch, know what I mean? But I need more than just an instrument now...what I basically need is a tool and a crutch. I guess...whatever power I now have? Yeah, it's either really weak, or I just really suck as a witch without the extra juice, because I can barely cast a spell anymore without serious help."
His warm welcome diverted her thoughts, making her smile as he admitted to forgetting the kettle.
Before she could answer, though, he'd reached for her hand and started speaking a spell in...Fazran? No, that was a demon tongue...Fey. Had to be. And she knew one word in Fey: 'help.' And she wasn't even sure she heard it in his soft incantation.
Following his silent urging, she stepped over the threshold and smiled as he politely took her arm. His hand was warm on her elbow...strong, sure, an artist's hand for certain.
"Aye aye, Senor Sculpts-a-Lot." she quipped with a grin as she followed along at his side. "I'll even help...and if you try to shoo me or treat me like a guest, I get to bop you. Or...y'know...tell your daddy on you or something. Or tell my granddad. He'll nag you into submission. He can do it, too...he had years of practice with me."
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Tadhg felt Diúc's nose poke his side at the same time he heard Millie skitter up. They both wanted to meet this new friend. "But you can always grab a couple of dog treats-- they're in that canister there --and introduce yourself." He dropped his hand fondly on the wolfhound's massive head. "This is Diúc, and the little fluffball by his feet is Millie." Both dogs gave Rian happy canine smiles, tails lashing with excitement.
Reply
Squealing in delight, Rian handed Tadhg the bag and knelt down to pet the dogs gleefully. "Oh just look at you guys! Hey, Di...hey, Millie Billie!" she cooed, scratching Millie under her chin and Diuc behind his ear. "You guys is so pretty, oh yesh you is!!"
Leaning in to kiss the massive wolfhound's snout, she bent to pick up Millie once the dog seemed to allow it, cuddling her close and growling playfully. At the same time, she tried to see if she could talk to the dog...so far, Shadow had been the only animal she could communicate with on any kind of routine level, but she'd had a little luck with a stray dog a couple of weeks before.
She didn't get a response to her attempts, but she did catch a brief, but quiet snatch of something that came after Diuc let out a short snuffle.
Cookies? He said yes...
Giggling, Rian nodded as she rose, still holding Millie in one arm while she stroked Diuc's head again. "He sure did, bucko...c'mon, treats for the sweet, my sweets."
Walking over to the canister Tadhg had indicated, Rian fished out a couple of biscuits and handed one down to Diuc, then fed one to Millie in her arms. "So this is the menagerie? Lookit these puppy pretties!! They're adorable!"
Reply
"They're part of it," he chuckled in response to her question. "I'm sure you'll meet a fair amount of the rest eventually. Two cats, three guinea pigs, three ferrets, a ball python, a tortoise and a Moluccan cockatoo, currently."
Wonder of wonders, he actually managed to locate two tea balls to hold the loose leaves while they steeped. Returning to the table, he placed one by each mug and turned to give his guest an engaging smile. "Have a seat, Rian, and we'll get this party started."
Reply
As Tadhg moved over to the table, Rian made sure the dogs had finished their treats, then kissed Millie noisily before setting her down, bending to give Diuc the same affectionate treatment before she moved to join him at the table.
"Far be it from me to hold up a party...starting them is sort of my thing." she teased, grinning as she joined him. "Mmmmmm...this spread looks totally yummy. Tea, treats, pretty puca, cute puppies and impending tattoos...yep. Very good day so far."
Reply
"As I'm sure you've already gathered, Rian, creating and placing this kind of tattoo takes a very different process than most." He nodded at the binder lying between them. "I do have a portfolio of some of my past designs you can look at, to show you what I have done. But because your particular ink must be attuned to your particular energies, I can't guarantee the finished product will look like anything in that book."
His dark eyes turned grave, though he still smiled. "I should tell you at the outset that the assessing and attuning do require me to make direct contact with your own energy channels, though of course I'll try to keep that contact as minimal and noninvasive as possible." Unable to quite still, his pencil traced an idle spiral or two. "But it does take a certain amount of vulnerability on your part, and therefore a certain amount of trust. If at any point you find yourself becoming uncomfortable with the situation, you need to tell me."
Ah, almost forgot. "And if you want a look at one of my designs in person so that you can get a feel for the results, I can show you a few of mine." He gives her a smile, gentle and guileless. "Any questions? I'm sure you must have a few."
Reply
Fortunately, his brief synopsis of what was going to be involved with the artwork she'd come for was more than enough to assuage her concerns...magic was something she was used to, something she knew. When he addressed her concerns, she shook her head.
"Trust isn't an issue...your dad told me to talk to you." she replied simply. "I trust him with my life...and pass the trust-issue, explanation-making savings onto you! Good deal, huh? Anyway, I've already been through some of this stuff...my powers have undergone a recent overhaul? So my witchy guru looked me over...she can read auras. It sounds like what you're talking about is more...I don't know, metaphysically tactile? But I'm cool with it."
When he offered to show her some of his own designs...on his person...she couldn't quite stop a blush from rising to her cheeks, or a wicked smirk from touching her lips. Forcing herself not to hope that the designs were below the belt, she nodded and tried to keep her expression mild and pleasant...failing miserably.
"I would, actually like that." she replied slowly. "And not just to satisfy my prurient curiosity about what exactly you might have to show me...gah, show me before I go innuendo-happy, pretty please?"
Reply
He touched the tat that centered over his diaphragm. The centerpiece, a variation on a triskele centered around oak leaves and acorns, was in turn surrounded by a riot of intertwined plants and animals, all intricately detailed and realistically colored. "This is one of my more recent. And this, of course--" He smiled as he proffered his left bicep, circled by a wide band of colorful knotwork through which a series of horses run, leap and rear. "--has a certain family significance.
"And then there's this." He turned and straddled the chair, presenting the very Celtic version of an ouroboros on his back. Not only was the snake curled in on itself in a spiral, but its body was constructed of and decorated with intricate braids and interlacing. Seven inches in diameter, the serpent's colors seemed to gleam with a subtle iridescence.
OOC note: Of course I am not the artist that Tadhg is, so I've been forced to fall back on existing pictures. They should only be considered an approximation of the actual pictures on his skin.
Reply
Without thought or hesitation, her hand moved to follow his brief tour of his body art, hovering just over the ornate piece on his torso before running lightly over the armband, smiling as she traced the shape of a single horse worked into it.
As he shifted to straddle his chair, Rian hesitated for a moment before standing to move behind him and inspect the ouroboros on his back more closely. Laying both hands against his back, she ran her fingers over the design, enchanted by the coloring and detail.
"You're not just gifted...you're a goddamn genius." she breathed in amazement. She could stand there all day and just stare at the delicate patterns within the design, and it was...yeah, those scales were shiny. How did someone even find ink like that?...
Reply
Whoa, lad. Professional, remember? He holds himself still, hands unobtrusively gripping the chair back. When she sits back in her own chair he turns to face her again, trying for an affable and hopefully unaffected smile.
"Ah ... almost forgot. I also have these ..." He holds out his hands palm-up. The skin looks entirely unmarked at first, but after a moment's concentration, colorful lines and curves start to appear as though being drawn by invisible pens. In less than a minute two mirror-imaged knotwork and spiral tattoos are clearly visible.
Tadhg grins at Rian's look of inquiry. "I can pull the same trick with my other ink as well, but of course most of the time there's no need."
Reply
Forcing herself to withdraw, Rian returned to her seat with a smile...but it vanished in a look of sheer awe as he showed her the tattoos on his hands, unfurling before her very eyes like some kind of painting being done live on flesh.
Sitting back a little, she covered her mouth briefly, blue eyes shining with joy and amazement before she moved her hand to speak, gesturing as she did to make her point. "Okay, I've...touched magic of this magnitude, and I mean with my pinky finger. My grandmother's no powerhouse, but she's very adept, and I could do that for a while...but this makes even that seem like I was making mystic mudpies. You...do you think you can do something this...enormous for me? I mean...would I be able to handle a piece of art that can...well...like that?"
Reply
He held out his hands to display the palm tats again. "The spell that hides them is worked into the tattoo during the placement, and is actually far more basic than you'd think. The ink gets pulled under the upper layers of skin, and a small glamour keeps people from seeing the faint shading that would normally still be visible. Once the spell is set, it actually requires only a light touch of the wearer's personal energy to hide or call up the marks."
Tadhg turned his left hand over to lightly trace the spiral in his right palm. "So yes, I could set such a spell in your tattoo, and in such a way that it would be easy for you to use. But first we'll have to answer the question of whether or not it will be worth it to you." Reversing hands, he traced the left. "These designs help me focus in reading and connecting with the energies of others, the same kind of connection I'll be making with you later. They're extremely sensitive. I keep them hidden when I'm not using them, not to conceal the ink, but to dampen their reception. Otherwise they'd interfere with my normal sense of touch."
He once more turned both palms up, spreading his hands in a we'll see gesture. "So concealment is valuable to me. In order to determine if it will be so for you, we'll need to take a good hard look at exactly what you're wanting to get out of this tattoo, and exactly how much we can put into it in the way of casting time, personal energy and other forms of magical essence."
Tadhg's sudden grin had more than a little of his father in it. "Y'know, I think people would find magic to be far less enticing a concept if they knew how much of it is a cost/benefit analysis."
Reply
His observation made her smile grow as she nodded. "Believe me, I'm well aware of the pros and cons of the serious mojo." she assured him. "I grew up around magic...I mean, I know your family's very private about what you are, but in LA it's all very open these days. And anyway, I was raised around magic...metaphysically and biologically. My best friend's from a medical family, and you've probably heard the whole spiel on my grandmother and her power."
She paused, her bright smile fading as her expression grew thoughtful. Absently toying with her fingers, she took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts. "Before this whole mess? I was out to get something done that would simply let me work my thing if I was tool-less...skyclad, or just out and in a bad sitch, know what I mean? But I need more than just an instrument now...what I basically need is a tool and a crutch. I guess...whatever power I now have? Yeah, it's either really weak, or I just really suck as a witch without the extra juice, because I can barely cast a spell anymore without serious help."
Reply
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